Perfume: the Story of a murderer

About This Project

Synopsis

Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, orphaned as a newborn in the streets of Paris, is alone in the world.  A peculiar child who rarely speaks, Grenouille is alienated from others but blessed with a remarkable gift.  His sense of smell is so refined, so attuned to every blade of grass and blossoming flower, that it’s tragic when he’s sold into servitude to a tannery at the age of 13 and surrounded by the foul odors that accompany his labor.

But there comes a day when Grenouille runs an errand in town and discovers the object that will transform his life: perfume.  Eager to learn the art of creating sophisticated fragrance, he apprentices himself to a once-renowned perfumer, and proves to be a savant whose almost mystical knowledge of scent surpasses anything that can be taught to him by masters of the craft.

Ironically, he was born with no scent of his own, a distinction which colors his undistinguished life.  But Grenouille is fearless when it comes to the pursuit of a perfect perfume.  When he discovers the most intoxicating scent he has ever experienced – the natural fragrance of a beautiful young girl – he learns that the only method to preserve her innocence and fresh beauty will require murder.

Plaguing the countryside with a series of gruesome killings, Grenouille must stay one step ahead of the authorities until he captures the final ingredient for his greatest perfume – the essence of a beautful redheaded girl whose wealthy father earnestly protects her.  Only then, he believes, will he earn the attention and adulation that his extraordinary talent deserves.

Based on the best-selling novel by Patrick Süskind, “Perfume: The Story of a Murderer” is a story of a deadly obsession set in 18th-century France.

Cast & Crew
Cast
Jean-Baptiste Grenouille BEN WHISHAW
Antoine Richis ALAN RICKMAN
Laura Richis RACHEL HURD-WOOD
Giuseppe Baldini DUSTIN HOFFMAN
The Plum Girl KAROLINE HERFURTH
Bishop of Grasse DAVID CALDER
Mayor of Grasse SIMON CHANDLER
Natalie JESSICA SCHWARZ
Madame Gaillard SIAN THOMAS
Madame Arnulfi CORINNA HARFOUCH
Dominique Druot PAUL BERRONDO
Chénier TIMOTHY DAVIES
Grimal SAM DOUGLAS
Marquis de Montesquieu HARRIS GORDON
Jeanne SARA FORESTIER
Marianne JOANNA GRIFFITHS
Grenouille’s mother BIRGIT MINICHMAYR
Grenouille (aged 5) ALVARO ROQUE
Grenouille (aged 12) FRANCK LEFEUVRE
Narrator JOHN HURT
Crew
Director TOM TYKWER
Screenplay by ANDREW BIRKIN, BERND EICHINGER, TOM TYKWER
Based on the novel by PATRICK SÜSKIND
Producer BERND EICHINGER
Co-producer GIGI OERI
Executive in charge of production CHRISTINE ROTHE
Executive
Producers
MARTIN MOSZKOWICZ, ANDREAS SCHMID, ANDREAS GROSCH, MANUEL MALLE, SAMUEL HADIDA, JULIO FERNANDEZ
Director of Photography FRANK GRIEBE
Editor ALEXANDER BERNER
Production Designer ULI HANISCH
Art Director LAIA COLET
Set Decorator PHILIPPE TURLURE
Costume Designer PIERRE-YVES GAYRAUD
Make-Up & Hair Design WALDEMAR POKROMSKI
Original Music TOM TYKWER, JOHNNY KLIMEK, REINHOLD HEIL
Orchestra ORQUESTA FILARMÓNICA DE BERLÍN
Conductor SIR SIMON RATTLE
Line Producer SYLVIA TOLLMAN
Delegate Producer EDMON ROCH
Line Producer Castelao TERESA GEFAELL
Supervising Sound Editor MATTHIAS LEMPERT
Sound Design STEFAN BUSCH, FRANK KRUSE, DIRK JACOB, JOHANNES WARNS
Sound Mixer ROLAND WINKE
Sound Re-recording Mixers MICHAEL KRANZ, MATTHIAS LEMPERT
Visual Effects UPP, PRAG
Visual Effects Supervisor DENNIS LOWE, ULI NEFZER
Production Notes
Title: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
Year: 2006
Country: Alemania – España – Francia
Genre: Drama – Thriller
Format: 2,35:1
Runtime: 147 mins.
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
Language: Inglés
Release Date in Germany: 14 septiembre 2006
Release Date in Spain: 24 septiembre 2006
Produced by: CONSTANTIN FILM PRODUKTION, VIP MEDIENFONDS 4 PRODUKTION
In co-production with: NOUVELLES ÉDITIONS DE FILMS (NEF), CASTELAO PRODUCCIONES
In association with: IKIRU FILMS, DAVIS-FILMS, RISING STAR
International Sales: SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT
Reviews

Bernard Besserglik, The Hollywood Reporter
“…Long regarded as unfilmable, Patrick Suskind’s 1985 novel “Perfume” has finally reached the screen in a blockbuster production that succeeds (…) in achieving what many said was beyond the scope of cinema: conveying the world of scent and smell…”

Rick Kisonak, Film Threat
“…The director’s recreation of pre-Revolutionary France is lavishly imaginative, the cinematography is flawless and the score otherworldly…”

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
“…Tom Tykwer (“Run, Lola, Run”) evokes a medieval world of gross vices, all-pervading stinks and crude appetites (…) It took imagination to tell it, courage to film it, thought to act it, and from the audience it requires a brave curiosity about the peculiarity of obsession…”

Dan Jolin, Empire
“…Perfume is a feast for the senses. Smell it with your eyes…”

 

Festivals & Awards
BAMBI BEST FILM,
FILM – NATIONAL
Bambi Awards (Germany),
58th edition (2006)

EUROPEAN FILM AWARD
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHER

PRIX D’EXCELLENCE
FOR PRODUCTION DESIGN

NOMINATION EUROPEAN FILM AWARD BEST COMPOSER
NOMINATION EUROPEAN FILM AWARD BEST ACTOR
NOMINATION AUDIENCE AWARD
BEST FILM ACTOR
European Film Awards,
20th edition (2007)
 

BAVARIAN FILM AWARD
BEST DIRECTOR
BAVARIAN FILM AWARD
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Bavarian Film Awards (Germany),
28th edition (2007)

 

FILM AWARD IN SILVER
OUTSTANDING FEATURE FILM

 

FILM AWARD IN GOLD
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
FILM AWARD IN GOLD BEST EDITING
FILM AWARD IN GOLD
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
FILM AWARD IN GOLD
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
FILM AWARD IN GOLD
BEST SOUND DESIGN
NOMINATION FILM AWARD IN GOLD
BEST DIRECTION
NOMINATION FILM AWARD IN GOLD
BEST FILM SCORE
German Film Academy’s Lola Awards,  57th edition (2007)
 

NOMINATION GRAND PRIX BEST FILM
Ghent International Film Festival (Belgium),
33rd edition (2006)

 

UNDINE AWARD
BEST YOUNG SUPPORTING ACTRESS

(Karoline Herfurth)
Undine Awards (Austria), 4th edition (2007)

 

NOMINATED
BEST ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLER FILM
NOMINATION BEST DIRECTOR
NOMINATION BEST WRITING
NOMINATION BEST MUSIC
NOMINATION
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
(Rachel Hurd-Wood)Saturn Awards of the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films (USA), 33rd edition (2007)

Gallery
Download press dossier

 

Category

Films